PUPILS and former pupils, parents and grandparents, and teachers and governors met last night to be heard in one voice.

The message, chanted at the end by nearly 1,500 of them, was simple: Save Our School.

St Peter’s secondary in South Bank faces imminent closure - but one man can overturn the decision of Redcar and Cleveland Council.

Alan Parker is an adjudicator from the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, and came to Teesside to hear why parents believe St Peter’s should stay open.

The proposed closure is part of Redcar and Cleveland Council’s £90m allocation in the Government’s Building Schools for the Future project. The council has stressed it has explored every option in keeping St Peter’s open.

Headteacher Pam Hanrahan addressed the assembly first, giving a rallying speech about the school’s 70-year history and commitment, not just to academic excellence, but to giving the world caring and responsible young people.

She told the Gazette: “I’m over the moon at how many people are here tonight - it shows how important this school is to so many people.”

John Wakelin, of South Bank, who has put one daughter through the school and hopes to start his second there this September, said: “The education here is first class.

“This is a happy school, and from a happy school you have happy children, and that exudes into the local community. There’s a lot of talk of regeneration, well, lets start regeneration right here in South Bank.”

Dozens of people got up to speak, all praising the St Peter’s excellent academic results - last year’s 85% A*-C grades at GCSE were among the best in the borough.

But what they were really hoping to do was impress upon Mr Parker the value the school has in holding the community together.

Reverend Patrick Thomas said: “I’ve been here in this parish for nearly five years now, and I’ve never seen better pupils or more dedicated teachers.

“Having such an excellent centre for Catholic education here is absolutely crucial for the community, and now more than ever.

“The closure of the steelworks will have a very hard impact around South Bank, a school can help hold a community together in difficult times.”

The meeting was due to be held in the City Learning Centre on Normanby Road at 6pm, but the hall allocated for the assembly was full and the decision was taken to move half a mile down the road to St Peter’s school sports hall.

The crowd sat in silence to listen to each other, apart from when they broke out into loud applause for speakers - from current pupils to those who left the school decades ago and want to see their grandchildren educated there.

One man, John Snowball, said: “I had five daughters go to this school and they loved it to pieces.

“My grandson wants to come here, and he’s worried about it closing.

“I say to him: ‘Say a little prayer each night for the school to stay open’.”

Many at the meeting were parents hoping to send their children to St Peter’s in the future, one dad said it was his “ambition” for his children to have a Catholic education at the school.

The alternative is pupils being taken to the Sacred Heart School in Redcar - a 14-mile round trip, while the corridors in the still thriving alma mater of Wilf Mannion echo with emptiness.

Former bus driver Mick Johnston, 60, wants his grandsons to attend St Peter’s, and said: “It’s daft to take a health and safety risk of putting hundreds of children on buses every day, when at the moment they can safely walk to school.

“And what will happen to after-school activities like sport? Will parents have to go all the way to Redcar to pick them up?”

Council leader George Dunning and deputy leader Sheelagh Clarke attended the meeting and were met with a hostile reception by the crowd. Cllr Clarke told the Evening Gazette after the meeting: “We never took the figures at face value, and explored numerous options to create school federations in order to keep St Peter’s open. We desperately tried to deliver a catholic provision here, and we are bitterly disappointed this school has to close.”

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator will continue with public consultation on the l closure until next Wednesday. Representations should be made to Lisa Short on 0870 0012 468, or by emailing lisa.short@osa.gsi.gov.uk . The adjudicator expects to make his decision public in March.

THE venue for a public meeting tonight about the decision to close Gillbrook Technology College and expand Eston Park School has been changed. The meeting was due to take place at the City Learning Centre on Normanby Road, but will now be held at Eston Park school from 6-8pm.